Method of forming roller bearing cups



July 30, 1935.

THOD

T. ZIMMERMAN Er AL F FOR R BEA Filed Jan. 27, 1935 7 an aJZ/ ATT July 30,1935. I T. ZIMMERMAN 'a1-Al. 2,009,644

METHOD OF FORMING ROLLER BEARING CUPS Filed Jan. 27, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I@ A Hg. 7.4

. INVENTORS l o/afZ/mwzermay,

ATTORNEYS July 30, 1935 T. ZIMMERMAN ET 2,009,644`

METHQD OF FORMING ROLLER BEARING CUPS Filed Jan. 27, 1953 4 She'ts-Sheet 3 2 7 f 2 ff mi MHV@ 4` ATTO RNEYJ July 3o, 1935.

T. ZIMMERMAN ET' AL v2,009,644 METHOD OF FORMIIINCTv ROLLER BEARING CUPS A FiledJan. 2'?, 1953 v 4 sheets-sheet A I :Imm v INVENTOR.s

ATTORNEYS Patented July 30, 1935 PATENT ori-lcs i METHOD F FORMNG EOI-LEB BEARING l UNITED STATES application January zr, 193s, sei-h1 No. 653,811

'l claims; (Cl. zei-148.4)

manufacture of cups for roller bearings and similar'members, and an object of the invention is to effect a saving in time and material, and to produce a. cup body of better texture due to the drawing and compacting of the metal during the forming operation.-

A further object is to effect a further saving by eliminating the necessity for certain machinand die operations, into substantially the desired form and with very smooth, compact inner and" outer surfaces, thereby securing a further saving of time in the grinding of these surfaces, and producing a cup having maximum wearing qualities and which is less liable to crack or develop flaws during the forming or otherl operations, waste due to such defects being thereby reduced to the minimum.

' It is also an object, to effect a saving in blank `material by giving the blank a particular form` Fig. 2 is an edge view, partly brokenaway and in. section, ofthe blank shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a die withthe blank shown in section and in'place thereon, together with a punch shown in elevation, to illustrate the present process or method and to show the o position of the parts at the beginning of the form ing operation; Y

Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are sectional views similar to Fig. 3 and illustrating succeeding steps in the process;

Fig. 8 is a planview of the cup as formed by the present process;

Fig. 9 is a transverse. section of Fig. 8; Fig. 10`is a bottom end elevation of Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a transverse section of a nlshed cup '50 and illustrating in dotted lines, the portion reu Figs. 12 and 13 are views similar to Figs, l and ing operations, the cup being formed -by punch' 2, of a blank of slightly modified form which may be employed in the present process;

Figs. 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 are sectional views of a die with a punch 'shown in elevation, illustrative of succeeding steps ofthe process of form- 5 ing the blank 'shown in Figs. 12 and 13, into cup form;

Fig. 19. is a transverse section of the cup formed by the preceding steps illustrated-in Figs. 14 to 18 inclusive;

Fig. 20 is a transverse section ofthe finished cup, illustrating by dotted lines, the nal machining operation;

Figs. 21 and 22 illustrate, in plan View and edge elevation respectively, a blank commonly employed in forming cups according to the usual Process; f

Fig. 23 is a sectional view of a die and a. blank in` place thereon, with a punch shown in elevation, all as constructed and arranged for carrying out the usual method lof forming roller bearing cups;

, Figs. 24 and 25 are illustrative of succeeding steps in forming a cup in accordance with the usual or. known practice;

Fig. 26 is a sectional view of a cup formed in the dies illustrated in Figs. 24 and 25;

. Figs. 27 and 28 are similar sections and illustrating by dotted lines, the nnal machining operations; and

Fig. 29 is a sectional view 4of the finished cup formed by this old method and illustrating by dotted lines, the final internal boring and grinding operations.

'Io assist in pointing out the new features and 35 advantages of the 'present method of forming roller bearing cups, an old and wellknown method is illustrated in Figs. 21 tq 29 inclusive, wherein the blank A is in theform of aldisk usually stamped from sheet metal and this blank is 40 formed within a suitably shaped die block B, into cup form by means of a punch C, adapted to engage the central portion of the blank which is supported at its peripheraledge only upon the die block over the open upper end of the die chamber axially thereof, the bore or chamber B of the die being tapered towardA its lower end and at'its upper end, being ilared outwardly in an outer sweeping curve to form a curved annular shoulder 13z at thev periphery of the upper end of the bore 50 B'. n

A centering member D is secured upon the die block and is formed with an opening to receive the disk or blank A and hold it centered over the die chamber B', the sweep of the curved shoulder B2 merging into the upper face of the block at the edge of the opening in the centering member D, so that when the blank is placed therein it will rest onthedie block'at its peripheral lower edge or corner only. When the punch C descends, the lower end portion of which is tapered to conform to the taper of the bore B', the blank will be depressed into the bore and formed up around the lower end of the punch with a simple cupping action, bottom E of the cup thus formed being forced bythe end face ofthe punch, into firm con,- tact with a removable plug F closing the-lower end of the bore B' so that said bottom will be properly formed with the annular cup wall Ef` extending upwardly within the space between the wall of the bore and the correspondingly tapered j end portion of the punch. I' It is this wall E' which yis to form the ring or annular roller bearing cup, and. therefore the ynext in Figs. 27 and 28vto give it the necessary shape,

three such machining operations being required, one to cut away the exterior face or side sol that this face will be parallel with the axis of the ring', as indicated at H, another tocut away the rim or what was originally the peripheral edge of `the` blank, as indicated at I, and a third operation to remove the lower end J of the wall E' from which the bottom E was severed, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 28. l

It will be noted that in this old process there is a large amount of metal wasted, not only in the several machining operations, but the bottom E is also waste as itis not left in such condition after the cupping and punching operations that it can be used as a blank for a cup of lesser dimensions. Further, a blank A of comparatively large diameter is required due to the fact that in the cupping operation, the peripheral edge portion of the blank is drawn inwardly to form the annular wall E', and this drawing or inward folding action, disrupts' the grain of the metal, often caus- Ing cracks and flaws in said wall which appear when the machining operations are performed, thus necessitating the discarding of the product and further increasing the amount of waste and loss of time.. Further, it is well understood that in such cupping operation, due to the strain imposed where the cup bottom joins the side wall,

. and to the hardening of the metal particularly at this point, the metal is extremely liable to crack or tear. After the machining operationsl have been performed, a boring operation indicated by the dotted lines K in Fig. 29, is performedl to give the desired internal diameter to the cup, and it is also usually necessary to grind this surface to make it perfectly smooth for the rolls shown in Fig. 11ato run thereon, and in some cases it may also be found necessary to grind the exterior of the cupwall.

In the present forming process as illustrated in Figs. 1 to '7, inclusive, the above pointed out losses and defects are overcome, in that, in the beginning, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, a ring-form of blank I is'emplo-yed, vthe external diameter of which is but slightly greater than the desired external diameter of the finished cup to be formed therefrom. This ring shaped blank is preferably struck from a, sheet of metal, and, therefore, the disk of metal removed from the center of this ring-shaped blank, is left in such condition that it may be used to form a blank for a cup of lesser dimensions.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, this ring-shaped blank I is placed within the centering member 2 secured upon the die block 3 to hold the blank centered axially with the bore or chamber 4 in the block and with the peripheral lower corner of the4 blank resting upon thev block where the outwardly curved upperend or corner 5 of the downwardly and inwardly tapered upper end portion 6 of the bore, merges into the upper surface of ,thedie block.y The taper of the portion '6; of the bore vis small, and, therefore the external diameter of the blank need be but little greater than the ldiameter of the straight lower endportionA 4 of the bore which portion detervrninesfthe outer diameter of the annular wall of the-member formed in the die by the descent of thepunch l, this punch being formed with a downwardly and inwardly tapered lower end portion 8 conforming to the taper of the4 portion 6 of the bore and which portion 8 joins the body of the punch in a beveled or downwardly inclined shoulder 9, the diameter of the upper end of the portion being considerably less than the'diameter of the punch body above, and less than the diameter of the bore, leaving a space between punch and borev wall when the punch descends into the bore, which space is of a width transversely, equal to the desired thickness of the ring member to be formed within the die.`

Descent of the punch 1, depresses the center portion of the blank, said blank turning upon 'the punch continues downward, as shown in Fig. 5, the shoulder 9 on the punch comes into contact with the upper end edge of the ring thus formed, forcing it to move down with the punch into the straight part of the bore as shown in Fig. 6 and thus drawing and compacting the metal and elongating the ring in the `direction of its longitudinal width. Further downward movement of the punch tothe position shown in Fig. 7, further elongates the ring in width by a 'drawing action which takes all ltension out of the`metal and compacts it, putting it in the best possible condition for use in a roller bearing cup, eliminating flaws from the body or wall and all tendency to crack. The nnal downward movement of the punch illustrated in Fig. 7,l forms the lower end edge of the ring to the` desired form for use as a bearing cup, by forcing it against the formed lower end of the y die bore and against the upper formed end edge of a plug I0 for closing the lower end of the bore, this plug being cupped or recessed as at I I to permit the extreme lower end of the punch to project slightly beyond the formed ring after said ring has come to seat in the lower end of the bore and upon said plug.

This limited advance-of the lower end of the f punch through the formed ring member, which is indicated as a whole by the numeral I2 and is shown in detail in Figs. 8 to 10, advances metal to flow upwardly to a limited extent be tween said shoulder and punch body surfaces and the surface of the lower end of the tapered portion of the bore as shown in Fig. 7, forming an internally tapered'annular flange I3-on the upper end edge of the annular wall I4 of the ring member.

v'I'he metal drawing operation or stepof the process which takes place when the partly formed ring member is forced downward in the bore in contact with the tapered and straight portions of the bore, produces a very smooth external surface upon the wall I4, and the straight portion of the bore forms this external surface exactly parallel with the axis of the ring I2,

. which is the desired form for the finished cup.

The tapered end portion `8 of the punch confines the metal between it and the wall of the bore, and the drawing action which takes place as the punch descends, causes the ring to accurately conform to the taper of this punch ena, giving a very smooth compacted inner tapered ring surface I5 which closely conforms to the desired internal shape for the finished bearing cup. Little internal boring of the ring to bring it to the desired diameter, and usually no grinding oi' the external surface is therefore necessary, and these surfaces hold to substantially the exact desired diameters as the tendency of the ring to change its form by expansion or contraction after be' ing removed from the die, is eliminated by the drawing and compacting of the metal during the forming operation.

'I'he final steps in the process of making the cup are therefore, one machining operation to remove the flange I3, as indicated in Fig. 11, and an internal grinding operation to nish the surface engaged by the rolls in the bearing assembly shown in Fig. 11a. Waste of stock is therefore reduced to the minimum, particularly as the disk of stock removed from the center ofthe ring blank is left in such condition that a ring blank from which to form a cup of lesser dimensions,l may be blanked, particularly a ring blank of the modified form shown in Figs. 12 and 13.

To form a bearing cup from the ring blank I6 shown in Figs. 12 and 13, the previouslydescribed method or process is modified somewhat in that the step indicated in Fig. 4 and described as the step of punching the ring blank to "turn it inside out, is eliminated, this step being unnecessary due to the fact that the body of the ring blank I6 is much less in horizontal or transverse width than that of the ring blank l. and also that the depthv or height of the bearing cup to be formed therefrom, is much less than that of the cup shown in Fig. 11. Outside of ths difference, the process shown in Figs. 14 to 18 inclusive, is substantially the same as that sho in Figs. 3 to 7, inclusive. Y

As shown in Fig. 14 the ring blank Il is first placed beneath the lower tapering' end portion l of the punch 1 within the upper end of the tapered portion B of the bore of the die block I,

said blank being of lesser external diameter than the diameter of Said upper endl of said tapered bore so that said blank will engage at its lower peripheral corner, the tapering wall ofthe bore adiacent its upper end and thus be supportedjand centered in the bore.

Y The lower end of the end portion 8 of the punch is of substantially the same diameter as the internal diameterrof the ring blank, and, therefore upon descent of the punch, its lower end will enter the blank, centering and confining it between Apunch and inclined wall of the bore and forcing itdownward within the bore with a compressing Aand'drawing action as illustrated in Figs. 15 to 18 inclusive, the last end of this vdown`movement of the punch or plunger, as shown in Fig. 18, seating the lower end of the wall I1 of the formed ring, at the bottom of the straight portion 4 of the bore and upon the annular end portion of the plug I0 surrounding the cup or recess il in said end of said plug, and thus accurately shaping this lower end ofsaid wall Ii to the desired form, the punch continuing its down movement for a short distance after such seating, to project the lower end of the punch a' short distance into said recess II and to bring its shoulder 9 into contact with the vupper end edge of the wall I I to conne said annular wall within the space between the straight portion of the wall of the bore and the-tapered end portion 8 of the punch, thus drawing and compressing the metal and at the same time permitting the excess to flow up against the shoulder 9 between it and the bore wall. This limited annular vflange I8 thus formed on the upper end edge of the wall I'I as shown in Fig 19, may, thereafter be removed by a machining operation as indicated at I9 in Fig. 20.`

The ring blank I6 is thus formed within the die by a drawing and lcompressing action, into substantially the desired cup-form so that but a limited amount of machiningi qr grinding is necessary to give it the desired dimensions and crosssectional form, and the metal, during the several forming steps, is so changed in its texture that aws or tendency tocrack, split or disintegrate are eliminated, and very smooth, compact surfaces having long Wearing qualities will be formed during the forming opera-tions and of accurate dimensions which will not be materially changed by contraction or expansion of the metal after the forming operation is completed.

Obviously the configuration of the die bore and punch may be changed to produce cup rings of a different size and form from that shown, Without departing from the present method or means or from the spirit of the present invention, such changes falling within the scope of the claims presented herewith, and which are contemplated. v

What we claim isz- 1. The method of forming an annular roller bearing member, which method includes forming a ring shaped blank from sheet metal, and then forming this blank into the desired annular memchanges ber form by nrst forming said blank between so confined to change its texture and the formed member is provided with an outer cylindrical sur-,- face of extended'wldth in the direction of the axis of said member and with an inner conical surface.

2. The method of forming an a roller bearing, which method includes stamping an annular blank from a sheet of metal, plac,

ing said blank over the upper open end of a die annular lcup for bore having an inwardly and downwardly tapering conical upper end portion and a cylindrical closed lower end portion, andA then forcing said blank downwardy into said bore by means having a conical end portion to conform to the taper of the conical end of said bore, and form said blank around the conical end of said means and increase the width of the annular blank in the direction of its axis, and to thereafter force the partly formed blank into external cylindrical. form and into internal conical form within the cylindrical portion of said bore with a drawing and compressing action upon the metal and to form the lowex` end of the blank into the de-A sired contour at the lower end of said bore while permitting the excess metal of the blank to 'flow upwardly between the lower end portion ofthe tapered bore surface and said conical end portion of said member.

3. The method of forming an annular cup for a roller bearing, which method includes forming an annular blank the width of the ring portion of which is greater than the thickness there of, placing this' blank upon a die block and concentric with a bore in the block, which bore is formed with an upwardly and outwardly tapered conical end portion and a lower cylindrical end portion joining the lower end oi' said conical portion and having a closed and formed lower end, forcing said blank downward into said conical portion of said bore by bringing the lower end of a member having a conical lower end portion into contact with the central portion of said blank and an annular shoulder to engage 1 the upper end of said blank and around which conical end portion said blank is formed between it and said conical portion o! said bore to decrease the external diameter of the blank; forc-` ingthe blank thus partially formed, downwardly into the cylindrical portion of said bore by said member to compact and draw the metal and form it with an outer cylindrical surface and an inner conical surface and to form its lower end into the desired cup form by bringing it into contact with the formed add dosed end of the bore and to ow the surplus metal upwardly between said annular shoulder and lower end portion of said conical bore and form a ange upon the upper end of the formed member; and then removing the member from the die and removing said ange by a machining operation to give to said end the desired iinished form.

4. The method of forming an annular internally tapered roller bearing member. which method includes providing an annular blank, and then by a single continuous movement of a punch within a die, reducingthe external diameter of face and an internal conical surface with a draw-.-

ing and compressing action upon the metal.

5. 'I'he method of forming* an annulazr1 internally tapered roller bearing member, which method includes providing an annular blank, and thereby one continuous downward movement of a punch within a die, reducing the external diameter of said blank by a. gradual inward compression while limiting its internal contraction, increasing the width of said blank in the direction of its axis and simultaneously forming the blank with an external cylindrical f surface and an internal conical surface by drawingv and compressing the metal, and forming within the die, a lower end surface of the blank to final member form at the end of said last named forming operation.

6. The method of forming an annular roller bearing member, which method comprises providing an annular blank, reducing the external diameter of the blank gradually while limiting its internal contraction, increasing the width of the blankA in the direction of its axis and simultaneously forming the blank with an. external cylindrical surface and an internal conical surface, the metal being drawn and compressed during such formation and then forming one end of the blank into final member form at the end of the last named forming operation and forming an annular flange at the opposite end of said blank by permitting a limited flow of the excess metal, and then removing said flange.

7. The method of forming an annular roller bearing member, which method includes, providing an annular blank, reducing the external diameter of the lblank gradually within a die while limiting its internal contraction by a punch, increasing the width of the blank in the direction of -its axis and simultaneously forming the blank with an external cylindrical surface and an internal conical surface, by a drawing and compressing of the metal by the action of the 4punch within the die during such formation, and then forming an end surface of the blank into iinal member form by a formed end of the die and at the end of the last named THOMAS ZIMMERMAN. ALBERT SCHRIEBER. 

